Voter Fraud

Voter fraud is the illegal interference with the process of an election on the part of a voter. It can consist of attempts to vote multiple times (perhaps by registration in multiple locales), attempting to vote when you are not legally registered (convicted felons lose the right to vote for life), or any form of vote buying.

In August 2016, three months before the presidential election, and in an unprecedented statement for a major party nominee, Trump said he was afraid the election would be “rigged.” The claim was largely viewed in the media as an intentional distraction from a disastrous few days after his criticism of Gold Star parents of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq. But the statement became a common thread through his campaign stops as the election drew closer with Trump even going so far as to encourage supporters to go to the polls and monitor voters.

In his campaign speeches Trump returned to three points with regularity:

“People that have died 10 years ago are still voting.”

There is a massive problem with “illegal immigrants [who] are voting.”

When Trump won the election in November, most expected the voter fraud narrative to die away. But as Hillary Clinton supporters repeatedly pointed to the profound discrepancy between the popular vote and the Electoral College results, Trump and his team began to tweet out statements suggesting he would have won the popular vote if illegal immigrants hadn’t voted. When these claims were widely denounced, Trump doubled down in true Trump fashion and announced he would be issuing an executive order initiating an investigation into voter fraud in the election.

This page will track Trump’s record regarding voter fraud and any investigations into the issue.

Timeline

2016.10.18

Trump spokesperson, citing a debunked blog post, said that Obama only won in North Carolina in 2008 because of voter fraud.mediaite.com(See also 2016 Election)

2017.01.25

The White House says an inquiry into baseless claims of illegal voting will spare states that voted Trump.theatlantic.com(See also First 100 Days)

With Kushner and Spicer, The Washington Post has now identified five Trump family members or top administration appointees who were registered in two states during the fall election.washingtonpost.com(See also Jared Kushner, Sean Spicer)

2017.01.27

Trump's voter fraud expert, Gregg Phillips, who spurred Trump’s calls to investigate election results, was accused of lying in government job applications, has faced ethics allegations and owes US more than $100,000 in unpaid taxes.theguardian.com

The Trump administration is leaning toward naming Thomas Brunell, a Texas professor with no government experience, to the top operational job at the U.S. Census Bureau, as he has testified more than half a dozen times on behalf of Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts, and is the author of a 2008 book titled “Redistricting and Representation: Why Competitive Elections Are Bad for America.”politico.com(See also Assaults on Civil Liberties, Voter Suppression)

2017.12.05

Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission, after this summer's sweeping request to state officials to submit voter data, plans to create a massive voter database, which could be manipulated, leading the administration to wrongfully purge legitimate voters.washingtonpost.com(See also Unprecedented Actions, Fascism, Voter Suppression)

The head of a federal commission who has helped U.S. states protect election systems from possible cyber attacks by Russia or others is being replaced at the behest of Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and the White House.reuters.com(See also Russian Meddling in Election, Cybersecurity)